Kindergartners raise money for cystic fibrosis
Emerson Kraus is like any other 10year-old kid, but she’s a hero to the kindergartners at Granville Elementary School.
She recently spoke to a class as part of a project on local and national heroes. The Granville fourth grader was featured along with a local police officer, pediatrician, pastor and nurse because of the bravery she shows each day navigating life with cystic fibrosis.
CF is a genetic condition that affects the lungs, pancreas and other organs. More than 30,000 children and adults in the United States have disease for which there is no cure, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Emerson wakes up early each day to do breathing treatments to clear mucus from her lungs and does the treatments again at night before going to bed.
Kindergarten Teacher Mariah Gibbs said her students were so inspired by Emerson that they have decided to hold a lemonade stand and bake sale Sunday to raise money for research.
“She related it to the kids and I think that’s why it really stood out because she made it so they could understand it,” Gibbs said.
Even weeks after Emerson’s presentation via Zoom, the students could remember all the details she shared with them.
They said CF is disease people are born with and that it’s not contagious; that CF makes it hard to breathe; that Emerson takes several medications to manage the disease; and that while there isn’t currently a cure, researchers are close.
Gibbs said the students are excited for the bake sale and have been talking about it non-stop.
“This group is super empathetic and … they want to help. They were very adamant on ‘I want to have a bake sale and lemonade stand’ and they want to help Emerson with her quest to find a cure or to raise awareness for cystic fibrosis,” she said.
“Each day they’ll say, ‘Is it the bake sale yet? Is it the bake sale yet?’ and they come in and tell us what they’re baking for the bake sale.”
For the kindergarteners, the reason for the bake sale is simple.
“So the scientists can find a cure for cystic fibrosis,” student Ian Smith said.
Kindergartner River Gibson said people should visit their stand, which will be in front of Day Y Noche in Granville, “because we need the scientists to find a cure so Emerson can have a long and healthy life.”
Melba Dann said cookies, brownies, muffins and more will be available. The whole class is helping and will work shifts at the stand where they will help make change, the student said.
“We’re going to put (the money) all in a cash register and it’s going to overflow,” she said. “None of the money goes to us, it all goes to scientists.”
When Emerson was a student in Gibbs’ class, they did a bake sale as well, which inspired this year’s effort, Gibbs said.
Since Emerson’s diagnosis at birth, the Kraus family has taken an active role in fundraising through Great Strides, an annual walk that serves as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s largest national fundraising event, according to the foundation’s website.
Nearly 300 walks take place nationally. The family has raised about $35,000 over 10 years, said Emerson’s mom, Jennie Kraus.
Emerson said she felt happy, excited and thankful that the students wanted to raise money for her Great Strides team, which is participating in the Columbus walk on May 1.
The money will go toward creating groundbreaking medications, like one Emerson is currently on called Trikafta, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2019.
Trikafta is approved for about 90% of people with CF and treats the underlying cause of the disease instead of just managing systems like other medications had done.
Emerson, who is treated by doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has been allowed to stop taking two of her normal medications because her health has been so stable since starting Trikafta.
And doctors are considering pulling back even more this spring, Emerson said. Something that makes her very excited because she could sleep in more.
“We didn’t ever think we would get here this quickly,” Jennie said, but she added that’s exactly why more research and funding is needed.
“I feel like we have been so blessed that she’s able to be on Trikafta and that we need to keep working to raise money for research, not only for a cure, so that people who have mutations that can’t access Trikafta can have access to a medication with these types of results,” Jennie said.
Emerson said, “It is important to keep looking for a cure so that no one has to deal with CF ever again, and so that all the kids who had it can be healthy again.” mdevito@gannett.com 740-607-2175
Twitter: @Mariadevito13